Heating and cooling systems for walls, ceilings and floors



Oct. 15, 1957' A. WOLF 2,809,814

HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEMS FOR WALLS, CEILING AND FLOORS Filed Feb. 13, 1953 1, FRED WOL F HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEMS FOR WALLS, CEILINGS AND. FLOORS Alfred Wolf, Basel, Switzerland, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Etablissement Alustra, Vaduz, Liechtenstein The present invention relates to a heating or cooling system for walls, ceilings and floors including heating or cooling pipes housed inside the ceiling, wall or floor to which heat-conducting elements are secured to form heat or cold distributing members. In the case of a heating system the latter may be operated electrically, the heating pipes containing electrical resistances, or else, the system may operate on the principle of fluid circulation, a heat-conveying gas or liquid being then urged to flow through the heating pipes. In the case of cooling systems, on the contrary, a cooling liquid is fed through the cooling pipes.

The heating and cooling systems of the above type proposed hitherto show the drawback that the contact between the tubes and the flat heat-conducting elements is poor and, consequently, the transfer of heat is unsatisfactory, while further the mounting of such systems, and in particular the connection between the conductive elements and the tubes, is associated with considerable difliculty. Now, according to my invention, it is possible to produce a heating or cooling system of the above mentioned type which does away with the above mentioned drawback.

In conformity with my invention, the heat-conducting elements are laid flat throughout their surface and are secured to the tubes by means of parts tightly enclosing the latter after the manner of a collar, said parts including each two interengaging channel-shaped enclosing members of which one is secured to the heat-conducting element to be considered in heat-conductive relationship through intimate contact therewith.

I have illustrated by way of example in accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment of my invention. In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is a cross-section through a part of a heating or cooling system of the type referred to;

Fig. 2 is a side view, partly sectional, of the part illustrated in Fig. 1.

In the mounting of the heating or cooling system, there are provided in the usual manner at suitable distances from one another, a plurality of pipes to which are secured flat heat-conductive elements forming the heat-distributing means and made e. g. of sheet metal. In Figs. 1 and 2 is shown such a pipe a to which the sheet element b is secured. Said metal sheet element is secured through fastening means enclosing the tube tightly after the manner of a collar and including two interengaging gutter or channel-shaped tube-engaging members and d which are also made of sheet metal for instance. Of these channel elements, the element shown at c is connected, e. g. through welding, along the area of interengagement with the corresponding metal sheet so as to provide for heattransfer through intimate contact between the metal surfaces. This channel member has outwardly bent longitudinal edges c-l, while the other channel member, d, has inwardly bent edges d- The inwardly bent edges of the second channel member d include, at least at one end of said channel member States Patent 0 d, lessincurved terminal sections d-2. This allows engaging and shifting longitudinally through one end the channel member d over the channel member c, the longitudinal edges of the two channel members interengaging each other. In order to insure the securing of the heat distributing sheet I) to the pipes a, the channel members c connected with said sheet in heat-exchanging relationship are laid over the pipes at and then the cooperating channel members d laid on the other side of said pipes are shifted in the manner just disclosed over the said channel members c. The connection between the sheet elements b and the pipes a may thus be performed very simply. As during the bending of the lateral edges of the channel members d, care is taken that the subsequent shifting of the channel members d over the channel members c may be performed against slight friction. I obtain consequently an excellent contact between each pipe and the channel members enclosing it, which ensures in its turn an excellent transfer of heat.

It is of advantage to treat the channel members c and d in a manner such that they assume a brilliant outer surface having low thermal radiation properties and a dull or blackened inner surface having high thermal radiation properties. Further, it is preferable to provide the metal sheets on the side opposed to the tubes with an adherent plastering e on which is then laid a layer g of plaster of Paris when finishing the wall or ceiling, such a layer of plaster of Paris adhering better under such conditions.

The metal sheets may be constituted by metal sheet sections that are either solid or perforated. It is also possible to use, instead of sheet metal, metal gauze or the like as a conductive element.

What I claim is:

In a heating and cooling system for walls, ceilings and floors, the combination of a pipe of heat conducting material for carrying a heat exchange medium, a flat heat conducting element, and securing means for securing said heat conducting element to said pipe in heat exchange relationship, said securing means comprising a pair of elongated semi-cylindrical channel-like parts shaped to enclose substantially the entire circumference of said pipe in tight heat conducting relationship, one part of said pair of parts secured in heat conducting relationship to said flat heat conducting element across the entire width of said heat conducting element between the ends of said heat conducting element, and interengaging cooperating reentrant portions along the full length of the edges of said semi-cylindrical channel-like parts joining said parts and securing them around said pipe, and an adherent plaster coating over the entire surface of said fiat heat conducting element on the side opposite the side to which said one part of said semicylindrical channel-like parts is secured, the inside diameter of said pair of semi-cylindrical channel-like parts being in frictional engagement with the pipe, whereby when the semi-cylindrical parts are placed around said pipe and the reentrant portions are interengaged, the parts insure tight heat conducting relationship to the pipe.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 906,106 Christoph Dec. 8, 1908 1,693,081 Kass Nov. 27, 1928 1,740,336 Crittal et al. Dec. 17, 1929 2,114,145 Kane et al. Apr. 12, 1938 2,469,963 Grosjean et a1 May 10, 1949 2,612,351 Janos Sept. 30, 1952 2,722,732 Sandberg Nov. 8, 1955 

